Inter unlikely to sign Pirlo, admits Ausilio

Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio has ruled out a January bid to sign midfielder Andrea Pirlo.

The veteran Italy international is reportedly pursuing a temporary move during the MLS off-season in order to bolster his chances of making Antonio Conte’s squad for Euro 2016.

Antalyaspor chairman Gultekin Gencer has this week claimed the Turkish club are poised to strike a deal for the New York City ace, while Inter have been persistently linked with a move for their former player.

Ausilio, however, has poured cold water on the speculation, telling Gazzetta TV: “There’s not a lot you can say about Pirlo the footballer. I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t rate him but we have to be realistic, too.

“We might not have a player like him in midfield but we have plenty of quality there and numbers-wise we’re okay too.”

Inter have also been linked with Lazio star Antonio Candreva and Sassuolo’s Domenico Berardi, but Ausilio does not consider either player to be a realistic target.

“Candreva is a very good player who is important for Italy as well, but there’s nothing going on there. I don’t like to waste time and I know it wouldn’t be easy to enter into talks with Lazio for that sort of player,” he said.

“Berardi is another great player and he supports Inter to boot. But he’s a Sassuolo player and his future is pretty clearly set out.”

Ausilio went on to confirm Inter’s interest in Marko Grujic of Red Star Belgrade and Cesena’s Stefano Sensi, while he also discussed the futures of Andrea Ranocchia and on-loan Barcelona full-back Martin Montoya.

“As for Grujic, I took advantage of the international break to go and watch a game but he wasn’t the only player we were watching. He’s a talented youngster, one of the best in Europe. We’ve made contact with the boy, in agreement with his club, but there are no negotiations as such at this stage.

“Sensi is another very interesting player and we generally try to keep an eye on up-and-coming youngsters.

“We have Ranocchia, Miranda, [Jeison] Murillo, Juan Jesus, [Nemanja] Vidic… They’re all quality players and we’re glad to have them in our squad. Of course if someone were to ask to leave then we’d sit down and assess things with him but we’ve never had that sort of conversation with Andrea.

“Montoya is here on loan from Barcelona and he hasn’t had much game time yet. We’ll look at his situation soon.

“We worked well in the summer and I don’t believe we need to do much. Roberto Mancini is happy with the players he has at his disposal and realises there’s a lot more potential within the squad.

“Mostly we’ll be looking to let a few players who haven’t played so much go out.”